


Diamond Promos

by SaintAnselmOfTheDesert



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: AU, Beholderverse, Brienne Lalonde - Freeform, Gen, OC - Original Character, Ralph Wingates - Freeform, References to Alola/Sun/Moon, entirely self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 11:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14135082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintAnselmOfTheDesert/pseuds/SaintAnselmOfTheDesert
Summary: Sometimes, the hardest battle is just trying to survive in the shadow of death, not knowing where it is or if its scythe will come down on you. All you can do is take it day by day, and with whatever friends and help that will stand by you. The road is long and hard, but those who stay the course and don't lose hope will be granted victory.





	Diamond Promos

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isis_the_Sphinx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis_the_Sphinx/gifts).



> Jesus Helsinki Christ on the Pogo Stick of Righteousness. I finally posted something. 
> 
> There's a lot I want to say, but I'm gonna save it for the end and just allow you to dive right in.

Ralph Wingates, the (former) Pokemon Champion of Hoenn, stared at himself in the bathroom mirror of his hospital room. The reflection that looked back at him was very different from the one that he’d seen a month ago. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit. His hair had been starting to come out in his hand almost every time he touched it earlier that week, but they couldn’t have it cut, because he wasn’t allowed to have sharp objects in his room. There was too much of a danger of bleeding due to his low platelets. But Zinnia had managed to sneak in a pair of scissors so she could at least cut most of it, and cut what was left over short so it wouldn’t cover his pillow at night and make it uncomfortable to sleep on.

Upon looking in the mirror after she was done, Ralph remarked, “I look like Steve Buscemi if he’d done heroin for a week.”

Zinnia laughed. “I know. But you still look like Mr. Hero to me.”

Ralph sighed, grabbing a nearby bottle of toothpaste. He still kinda did. Somewhere, in that face, the face of a man devastated by leukemia.

It had been about a week since he’d finished his first round of chemotherapy. They couldn’t afford to wait; leukemia was one of the rarer cancers, and very aggressive, so treatment basically began the next day after he’d told Brienne. First thing they did was put a line in Ralph’s arm that went directly into his superior vena cava through the brachial vein in his right arm, and then did a spinal tap that evening to make sure it hadn’t jumped into his spine (which it hadn’t, thankfully). Then the next day, he was given two different types of chemo drugs to force his bone marrow to shut down and wipe out all of the bad cells in his body. Ralph (and everyone else) was assuming the chemo side effects would be immediate, at least once it had time to sit around in his body. But, other than peeing cherry red due to the chemo in question for the next three days and mild nausea that came and went, it hadn’t done much.

Now, Ralph had a pretty bad fever, and he hadn’t been able to eat a lot in the last couple of days. They’d drawn his blood again, and found he’d come back positive with some kind of bacterial infection, so they’d put him on broad-spectrum antibiotics via IV to fight it off. Hopefully he’d have news on specifics sometime soon.

He spat into the sink and looked back up. “...okay, I’m starting to see stars.”

Zinnia started saying something from outside, but it suddenly was drowned out by something. Ralph grabbed the edge of the sink, his head suddenly heavy and vision swimming. Panic immediately set in. “Zinnia? Help?”

Zinnia immediately threw away the book she’d been reading and dashed into the bathroom. “Ralph, I’m here. Come on, let’s get you back to bed.” She started leading Ralph out, trying to keep him steady as he slowly shuffled forward, but a few seconds later, he swayed hard to the left, and then fell backwards right on top of her, eyes closed and unmoving, IV pole fallen across his feet.

“Ralph? Ralph! Someone, help!”

* * *

“He wasn’t hurt, was he?”

Zinnia shook her head, idly spinning the straw in her soda as they took the elevator back to the third floor, where Ralph’s room was. “No, somehow. I think he must have known he was going down, because I saw him brace his hand against the wall and he more _slid_ down than fall outright. That, and he fell on me more than the floor. It was still really scary, though.”

Brendan gave a low whistle. “How long was he out?”

“Not long. Probably only a minute if at that. He was maybe half-aware of what was going on, but he sounded drunk because he kept slurring his words. He was joking about how lucky he was to have gotten a platelet transfusion earlier that day. He’s been on oxygen since then and spent most of the night shivering into his blanket.”

“Have they found out what’s been causing it?” asked Wally.

“Definitely some kind of bacterial infection. The initial blood cultures have proven that much, but they need to whittle it down from there.” Zinnia nodded. “Of course, this also means Ralph _really_ doesn’t want to get out of bed again, he doesn’t want to have that experience twice if he can help it.”

“I would think he’d want to not have the experiences of the last _month_ twice if he can help it,” Brendan observed. “I mean, talk about the worst birthday present ever.”

“Natch. I’ve been trying to at least get him to walk around the room lest his muscles get even weaker, and...”

Zinnia looked away, causing the other three Trainers to look at each other.

The intercom binged. “ _Rapid response. Shiba Building, 3 East. Rapid response. Shiba Building, 3 East._ ”

The group immediately went on alert, and it only got worse when a pair of nurses, clad in dark blue scrubs, immediately jogged down one of the hallways. Zinnia’s soda fell out of her hands and she dashed after them, shroud flying behind her as she rounded the corner and caught the sight of people heading into Ralph’s room.

“Ralph!” Zinnia increased her pace, thoughts racing.

Inside, she found Ralph bouncing around on his bed, his mouth chattering, and his eyes wide in fear and panic. Ralph’s Beartic, Pasha, was also involved, trying to hold down his Trainer’s legs to stop them bouncing around, but while his feet and ankles were still in the bear’s massive mitts, the rest of his body was anything but. “What’s going on?”

“Zinnia...so cold...can’t stop shaking…!” Ralph managed to eke out as a nurse stuck a thermometer in his mouth.

After a moment, it was removed. “Temperature is 104.1. Seizure unlikely.”

“Get him morphine, we need to get his body under control.”

“We’ve been having issues with the PICC line.”

“Go with a standard IV in the other arm.”

Ralph’s hand reached out to Zinnia, and she took it as he tried to pull her to him around his trembling limbs. Finally, they began to subside as Ralph whispered something to her as the morphine started to cycle through his system.

Zinnia shushed him. “I forgive you. Just rest for a minute, I’ll see the others out.”

“Try to come back quickly,” one of the nurses told her. “The night hospitalist will want to see you two.”

Zinnia nodded and made her way outside, removing the mask she’d covered herself with.

“What just happened?” asked Wally.

“We’ll tell you in the morning. But I think they’re going to have to cut this visit short.”

“He’s not in danger, is he?” asked May.

“It looks like the worst of it’s over, but Ralph’s obviously freaked out and he’s not gonna be in the mood to talk if he’s going to be on morphine.”

“I’d believe that,” said Brendan. “Tell you what, we’ll see ourselves out, you just go back to him, okay?”

“Thanks, guys,” Zinnia said. Brendan and Wally both turned and made their way back down the hallways towards the elevator, but May stayed behind. “May? What’s up?”

“...what did Ralph say to you?” she asked.

Zinnia’s eyes flickered back to Ralph. He was still again, though probably not very lucid, idly scratching the top of Pasha’s head. Could she tell her? Ralph was clearly regretting what he’d said before, and she didn’t want to hang this over his head along with everything else. But, as much as she didn’t want to admit it openly, she wouldn’t pass up the idea of the tremors maybe being a bit of divine retribution probably setting him straight.

“I’ll tell you about it on the way. Strictly between girls, okay?”

May blinked. Was it really that bad? Or was it because of something else? Either way, it only took a moment for her to consider it, and then she nodded.“...okay. So what’d he do?”

* * *

“You actually threatened to throw her out?”

“Tired...Brienne...don’t yell...”

“Nuh-uh, buster. I wanna hear about this.”

Ralph sighed, trying to readjust his body as he tried to avoid the stern gaze of Brienne. He wouldn’t have put it past Zinnia to have reached out to his colleague/fellow Champion after what had happened a couple of nights ago. He’d often described Brienne as a badger straight out of Redwall: kind and wise, but heaven help you if you make her mad, because she will eviscerate you at the subatomic level. And if Zinnia had told her what had happened in the minutes leading up to those tremors, then leukemia was going to be the least of his worries.

“I don’t know, Brienne, it was...it was just a moment I forgot where I was. We’d been having it out because I’m not in the mood for walking the hallways again for the last week after what happened in the bathroom.”

“Are you actually scared you’re going to faint again?”

“Frankly, I’m scared of a lot of things right now.”

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, Ralph, I’m just wondering if you’re okay with the trade-off. I mean, I know they wanted to keep you in the hospital because they were afraid of what the post-chemo reaction would be, but-”

“I know. That’s all stuff Zinnia had been telling me, and I know she’s right...but at that moment, I just...” Ralph ran his hand across his head, looking away.

“You did tell her you were sorry, at least, right?”

Ralph nodded. “Around chattering teeth and shaking limbs.”

Brienne nodded back. She seemed satisfied, but only a little. “Do they know what caused the tremors?”

“Same thing as before: bacterial infection. My immune system’s so shot that the bacterial infection was basically screwing around with my internal temperature. So I was super feverish, but it felt like I was back on the lower levels of Shoal Cave at low tide. So they’re setting me up with an infectious disease specialist to my case as well, and I need physical therapy to rehabilitate my legs.”

“What happened to your legs?”

“Tremors basically wrecked my muscles. I can’t move my legs very far without being in immense pain. Everything else is fine, such as it is...”

“Sounds like fun.”

Ralph snorted.

“Is that all you want to talk about?” Brienne asked.

Ralph sighed. There was a _lot_ he wanted to talk about. Like how it’d been a month and yet everything had been moving so fast. Like how he’d gone a full month since he’d felt the sun on his skin. How he couldn’t be around his Pokemon. That killed him more than anything, but since he was neutropenic (the fancy way of saying “too easily infected with something due to low white cells”), he could only have certain types of Pokemon with him, and most of this main Pokemon weren’t on the list. Simurgh and Fiddlesticks, being Fire and Grass-Type, respectively, created too much risk for infections because they bred bacteria. Triton, being a 20-foot long Milotic, couldn’t fit in the room. Vi and Sikorsky created dust due to being Rock and Ground-Types. Saezima, even though he was Dark-Type, was too furry, because fur meant dander. Aramis was too much of a risk to have due to electrical interference. That only left Pasha, and currently the polar bear Pokemon was curled up at the foot of the bed.

Across from Pasha was a second bed, empty. Ralph’s only lucky break up until now was that he’d been moved to a new room pre-chemo that would let his friends sleep in the room with him without having to worry about sleeping in a chair. Zinnia had been using it more often than not. Currently, she was visiting the Draconids back at Meteor Falls, but she said she’d be back that night.

“Ralph?”

Ralph started; he’d forgotten Brienne was still on the line.

“...I just want to be done with this. I went from no life to life changed to having a life and back to no life in almost two years, and now I feel like I’ve got a gun to my head, and the reaper’s whispering to me, ‘Soon, Ralph. Soon.’ There’s so much I feel like I want to do. That I should do, but...what am I going to do with that in a hospital bed?”

Brienne gave him a smile. “Hope, Ralph. You can do this. I believe. We all do.”

It was a statement he’d heard too many times, but Ralph nodded all the same. “Thanks.”

“One last thing before I let you go...what exactly are your thoughts on Zinnia?”

“...my thoughts?” Ralph said.

Brienne grinned a kind of grin only a true Homestuck fan would have. “Oh, you know...where exactly do you see yourself with her?”

“Brienne, are you seriously trying to run the Dr. Phil gambit on me?”

Brienne laughed. “I’m just saying...it’s obvious what you said to Zinnia yesterday is bothering you. I know you and Zinnia have a...thing, going on between you two. I mean, with a picture like that on the front page, how could you not?”

Ralph sighed. That Championship win seemed like aeons ago. Echoes of a forgotten, happier time. A year of doing the unthinkable, from total novice in the ways of Pokemon to the Champion of a region and savior of the same. Normally he’d just laugh it off and say it was just adrenaline running wild from achieving such a feat, but now…

Was it, though?

Was it just adrenaline?

Or was it something else?

Something he’d always _guessed_ was there, but never really considered.

Was _that_ why Zinnia was staying with him this whole time?

And was _that_ why he felt so guilty trying to chase her out?

“What’s your point?” Ralph asked.

Brienne just kept smiling. “Ralph. Tell her how you feel. Even if your time left on this planet’s short, don’t waste it on what you’ve had to give up. Treasure what you have now. Zinnia knows more than anyone what you’re dealing with, and honestly, I’d love to have someone like that in my corner if I was in that hospital bed instead of you.”

“What, and Calem or Shauna aren’t?” Ralph raised an eyebrow.

“Oh you know they are, and don’t change the subject. But if I know anything about you, it’s that Zinnia is the best thing that ever happened to you and I’ll personally come over to Hoenn and smack you over the head if you just let your relationship sit a second longer as it is. You need this, Ralph.”

Ralph was surprised at the passion Brienne was giving off. Well okay, Brienne was pretty passionate if you got her going, he knew that already, and in a way, he was kind of the same. He just wasn’t expecting it of...well, this particular subject. But in a way, she was right. And he couldn’t really ignore it at that point.

“You really oughta be a life coach.”

Brienne winked. “I have been told as much.”

* * *

“Hello, Mr. Wingates.”

Ralph grunted a greeting at his doctor. It was another morning of just trying to make it in the neighborhood. He’d woken up at six AM for another blood draw, breakfast had been served, and Zinnia had just come back from stretching her legs in the hallway.

“You getting bored of this place?”

It had been almost a month since he’d been admitted. Valentine’s Day had already come and gone. Naturally, Ralph had totally forgotten his conversation with Brienne about his relationship with Zinnia. And yes, he was very, _very_ bored. He was tired of spending his time either going through his PokeNav Plus or watching TV half the time and the rest just doing whatever. Most of that was due to the sheer number of medications he was on. He was up to ten, several taken multiple times over the course of the day.

“You want to go home?”

Ralph blinked, looking over at the doctor. “...zuh?”

The doctor grinned. “You can go home.”

Ralph hauled himself into a sitting position. Was it really over? Could he go home now? It had been so long since he’d been anywhere that wasn’t up and down the hallways he couldn’t begin to think what home looked like now. Never mind Indio, the Secret Base seemed like a mirage in his mind at this point.

Zinnia was also on the same track. “Seriously?”

“Ralph’s neutrophils have risen to a point that we feel okay sending him back home without him getting further infections,” the doctor said. “His hemoglobin and his platelets are still low, but not enough that we’re worried about him fainting or bleeding out. We’ll be setting him up for a medication regimen for when he’s released, and the new oncologist in Mossdeep City we mentioned will be taking over Ralph’s case. He should be in touch with you fairly soon.”

Ralph nodded, still not sure what was going on. He was ready to think it wasn’t real. But then his nurse came back with a host of prescription bottles consisting of everything he’d been taking up until now and Zinnia had returned with the clothes he’d been wearing on the day he was admitted, sealed in a plastic bag. He was taken in a wheelchair to the elevator, still wearing a mask for protection, down to the first floor and through the lobby. There, he found all of his Pokemon waiting for him. And at the head of them all was Simurgh. He looked just like he did when they’d been forced to separate one month ago.

It was coming up on noon. And the sun was out.

“Hey, Ralph. It’s the sun. You remember that, right?”

Ralph almost burst into tears at that moment alone, just from hearing Zinnia make that remark in his ear, and only by being dogpiled by his Pokemon all at once was he pushed over the edge.

* * *

“SURPRISE!”

And the hits just kept coming.

“What in the bluish flaming...” Ralph stepped back into his Secret Base for the first time in a month to find it conspicuously full of people: namely, Brendan, May, Wally, Professor Birch, Wallace, Tate, Liza, Wattson. “What are you all doing here?”

“What do you think? We wanted to come greet you home,” said Brendan.

“Not to mention clean the place up,” added May. “There was a metric ton of dust in here due to you being away for a month.”

“I bet,” said Ralph.

“We also got our Pokemon to help!” said Tate and Liza.

“Lunatone and Solrock both know Cosmic Power and Safeguard...” Tate started.

“...so we used them to help protect the Base and your health as long as you’re here!” said Liza.

Ralph smiled, ruffling the psychic twins’ hair. “You two are really something else.” He then turned to the other two Gym Leaders in the room. “I’m amazed it’s just you guys. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost think the entirety of the Pokemon League would be here right about now.”

“Wahaha! Well, you’d be almost right!” Wattson said. “Roxanne and Brawly are off doing their own thing, Winona and Norman are currently doing business with some of the new Gym Leader candidates in Alola, and Flannery’s working with Team Magma on Mt. Chimney, something involving some kind of geothermal energy project.”

“...okay, Winona I get. Flannery, I’m a little surprised, but I get. But what on earth could Roxanne and Brawly be up to?”

Wattson merely waggled his eyebrows. “Those two have been dancing a merry dance around each other for years. But, in lieu of actually being here to see you, they sent me to give you some things.” He produced a couple of things from behind his back. One was a cookbook entitled _Healing Through Healthy Eating_. The other was a rock.

“Oh. Tell them thank you next chance you get,” said Ralph, taking them. “...I’m pretty sure Roxanne gave me the rock and the book is Brawly’s.”

“...how’d you-?” began Wattson.

“Pattern recognition,” said Ralph with a grin. “Though I don’t get what the rock is for.”

“That’s quartz!” said Tate.

“It’s a stone with healing properties. Some psychics like to use them to help other people,” said Liza.

Ralph handed them over to Aramis. “Send these upstairs, will ya?” The Raichu promptly took them and scurried up the stairs. Ralph then turned to Wallace. “Nice to see you, Wallace. Any word from Steven?”

“I’ve been keeping him up to date whenever I’m able,” Wallace replied. “He sends his best.”

“Ah. Wonderful, sounds like he’s doing okay himself. Better than me, anyway.”

“He is, actually. He told me he might actually be coming by fairly soon, so he might be able to visit you while you’re in between hospital stays.”

Finally, Ralph turned to Professor Birch. “Professor. Little far from Route 101, I see.”

“Well, I was actually looking into recent Absol sightings around Fortree City and figured I’d drop by as I was in the neighborhood, and all,” Birch beamed. “You look great, all things considered.”

“Tell that to my hair,” grunted Ralph, pointing at his slightly-feathered head. “Or what’s left of it.”

“Well, at least you’ll be able to fully commit to the look, now that you’re no longer in danger of bleeding everywhere,” Birch said. “Should make for easier sleeping, based on what Brendan’s told me.”

“Yeah, hair on pillows tend to make for uncomfortable nights.”

The group continued to linger and swap stories for a couple of hours before everyone decided it was time to move on. As everyone made their way outside, Ralph had taken the opportunity to move his things from his hospital room back into his space upstairs. As he did, however, his PokeNav Plus fell out of his jacket pocket and onto his bed. It was at that moment Ralph suddenly remembered something.

“Ralph? I’m going to head back to Meteor Falls for a bit. Your Pokemon should be able to take care of things here, right?”

Ralph picked up his PokeNav Plus and stuck it back in his jacket, his mind racing, but every direction it went, Brienne’s words seemed to come back to him every time.

_Tell her how you feel. Even if your time left on this planet’s short, don’t waste it on what you’ve had to give up._

This didn’t seem like the best time. He had just come home from a terrible ordeal, there was time to tackle this when he got to sleep in his actual bed and get back to living his life here, such as it was. Rest first, then think.

_Tell her how you feel._

Ralph turned around, and he found Simurgh waiting for him at the top of the stairs. His eyes flickered towards the entrance, and then he folded his arms. He seemed to be echoing Brienne’s sentiments, or he just knew what was on his mind. No matter what it was, he knew, and he was telling him something.

With everything that happened, there probably wouldn’t be a best time. There might not be any time at all later, all things considered.

“Fuck it,” he muttered. He then quickly genuflected and offered a silent prayer. “Zinnia. Hold on a moment.”

Zinnia stopped at the entrance to the Base as Ralph made his way back down from upstairs. “What’s up?”

Ralph paused, trying to find the right words to say. If he was going to do this, it had to be now, or...he shoved the thought away, and then took Zinnia’s hands into his own.

“Whoa. What’s up with this?”

“Zinnia...” Ralph began. “When I first met you that day in Rustboro City, I was...not impressed, to say the least. Too quirky, seemed to know way too much about me, and I couldn’t help but wonder if you were trying to swindle me out of something. And then we kept meeting up. The more we met and talked and battled and traveled together, I couldn’t help but think that maybe there was a reason why we kept meeting up. It felt like you were always _meant_ to be there. Even though we’d never met before, I almost felt like...we’d known each other all our lives. Across worlds. Across universes, across time and space itself.”

“Ralph…?”

“But even then, I wasn’t quite sure of what to...make of my feelings. I always wanted someone like you in my life, but I always thought I’d had more important things to worry about. That maybe I was confusing what I was feeling with something else. But with everything happening around me and spending a month in a hospital bed, fearing for my life...well, a friend told me it’s time I stopped kidding myself. Because not just anyone would stick around for me me after a moment where...I sincerely thought I was going to die when I told you I would have security bounce your ass fifteen minutes before.”

“Ralph? What are you saying?”

Ralph took another breath, held it, and then said the words. “Zinnia of the Draconids...I love you.”

Zinnia’s face turned three different shades of red in the space of three seconds. “Ralph...”

“I have loved you for what’s felt like 12,000 years, and 100 million and 2000 years from now, that won’t have changed. With all the pieces of this damaged body and soul. And I don’t think I would’ve made it nearly this far if it hadn’t been for you.”

Silence fell between them, the words hanging heavy in the air. Ralph’s eyes flickered back towards Simurgh. The Blaziken gave a slight shrug and a grunt. He wasn’t sure what to make of the silence either.

“Zinnia-?”

Whatever question he was about to ask was answered when Zinnia promptly kissed him, her hands still entwined in his.

* * *

And somewhere in Kalos, Brienne Lalonde suddenly smiled.

“ _ **Mom? What’s up?**_ ” asked Dirk.

“Oh, nothing,” she said.

_Took you long enough, Ralph._

“ _ **...ooooooh, okay. We’re totally blackmailing him later about this, right?**_ ”

“Oh, maliciously.”

“ _ **Awesome**_ _ **. How we do it?**_ ”

* * *

After spending a couple of weeks readjusting to life back in the world (though much of that involved him wearing a mask, as well as avoiding food that was relatively fresh due to still being on a neutropenic diet), Ralph and company made their way to Mossdeep City for the next step: meeting their new oncologist and discussing the next round of treatment. Ralph knew that a bone marrow transplant was the eventual endgame; it had been mentioned as much when this whole sorted adventure started. Of course, they had to find a donor for that, and Ralph was already dreading it. Even though his doctors didn’t know it yet, he already could tell it would be a long hard slog. After all, a guy who came from a parallel universe wasn’t likely to share common threads with a lot of people. Even so, Zinnia, Brendan, May, and Wally all in turn submitted tests. After all, even if the odds are slim, if they were donors, it would mean they could move a lot faster.

But sometimes, the odds are just that. Slim.

“You’re kidding me! None of us!?”

“Nope,” sighed Brendan. “Four bone marrow tests, negative matches across the board.”

Zinnia sighed as well, taking a seat next to Wally on the bench outside the hospital. This was their nightmare scenario. With no close bone marrow donors, they’d have to search wider, which would take time. Time Ralph may not have. “How’s Ralph taking it?”

“I believe his exact words were ‘balls.’ And then a whole bunch of other words I don’t want to say,” said Wally. “So yeah, he did not take it well…”

“And that’s not even the worst of it,” Brendan said. “They said they’re having trouble trying to find good donors at all because of his ‘strange ancestry.’”

“Meaning they can’t find anyone because he’s from another world,” said May.

“Pretty much,” Brendan nodded.

Zinnia put her head in her hands. This was rapidly spiraling out of control. Worse still was how Ralph was feeling. They knew they’d have to wait around if donors couldn’t be found quickly, but now their list of options was starting to look worryingly thin. “So what happens now?”

“Well, basically, it sounds like Ralph will still be admitted anyway. It just means they’ll keep hitting with chemo to keep the leukemia down until we find a donor. They said they’re limiting their search to Unova, Kalos, and Alola, due to his DNA, but...the longer we wait, the weaker Ralph gets...” said May.

“Where is he now?” asked Zinnia.

“Probably went back to the Base to decompress. They said they’d like to admit him no more than two weeks from now,” said Wally. “So he’s probably wanting to spend as much time his team as possible before he has to go back in. He’s gonna get another biopsy on Friday, too, just to make sure it’s still in remission from the chemo.”

“At least they’ll sedate him this time,” said May. “I’d like to be asleep if someone told me they’d have to jam a twenty-gauge needle in my butt and into my pelvis.”

“And then take a hand drill to it,” Brendan added.

“...suddenly, I’m glad my issues are respiratory,” Wally said.

Zinnia said nothing, letting her friends continue to talk for a moment, lost in her own thoughts. Eventually, she called upon Salamence and flew off to Route 120. The usual storms on the north side of the route seemed to have to migrated south today, blocking off the sun and bringing rain on the area. While not common for the area, it was definitely not unheard of. It seemed like even Rayquaza could sense Ralph’s mood.

Zinnia slowly made her way through the Secret Base and up the stairs, letting Salamence dry off on the lower room. The light was still on, and Ralph was curled up on his bed, facing the wall. Simurgh, like always, had taken up sleeping leaning against another wall. As she made her way closer, the Blaziken snapped awake. Zinnia froze, but then he simply walked past her down into the main room. She crept to Ralph’s bed, and touched his shoulder.

Ralph promptly rolled over. His eyes were red and his face was streaked. Ralph had been depressed, sure, but Zinnia was pretty sure this was the first time she’d caught Ralph actively crying since he got the news. He rubbed at his eyes and his face, hoping she couldn’t see his face in the half-dark. “Oh. Hey.”

It broke Zinnia’s heart to see a Champion, her Champion, her Successor, sick and scared, with only the shadow of death a certainty, wherever it was. And ultimately she could do nothing but keep him on track with his meds and pray with him.

That, and comfort him.

“Hi. Move over.”

Ralph wiggled a little to the left, and Zinnia kicked off her shoes and took off her shroud. She wrapped her arms around Ralph’s neck, kissing his temple. Ralph didn’t do anything. Now she knew something was bothering him, because awkward as he could be sometimes, Ralph would never pass up a chance to cuddle with her. “You okay?”

“...yeah.”

Zinnia knew a lie when she heard one from Ralph. He was really bad at it. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“...no.” Another lie.

“Come on, Ralph. You can tell me. What’s on your mind?”

“Everything.”

Zinnia chuckled a little. “Well, I could have told you that.”

“Zinnia...can you just...not? I just want to sleep.”

Zinnia ran a hand through the small streaks of hair he had leftover. This was not working out, but she didn’t just want to let him suffer like this. There had to be something on his mind. Did he know they were having trouble finding donors? No, of course he’d be the first to know. No, it was something else. Something that went beyond leukemia. But, in the interest of not prying further -

“...Zinnia...there’s something I have to tell you...”

Or maybe he would say it. “Oh? What is it?”

Ralph turned his body toward her, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes. He almost seemed embarrassed by whatever it is. This was new, even for him. “There’s...something the doctors told me when I went in for that first consultation. Something I haven’t told anyone.”

“Ralph-” Ralph quickly leaned in and whispered something in her ear. What Zinnia heard promptly turned her cheeks pink as she tried to process what she just heard. “...I...”

“Yeah, it’s weird.”

“Why would you even tell me this?”

“Well, it was something I wanted to tackle myself. Thing was, I had to fly back to Rustboro City because it was the only clinic in the region that would see me in a reasonable timeframe. So, I flew out there about a week ago...provided a sample, and...” he trailed off. “Well, there’s nothing to be had. I have...nothing.”

“Well, okay, but that’s not answering the question.”

Ralph said nothing.

“Ralph...please. Why would you tell me something so...”

“Personal?”

“I was going to say intimate, but that works too.”

Now it was Ralph’s turn to go red in the face. “...I guess...it’s because...I’m not against the idea of having kids with you.”

Zinnia went even redder. “Ralph, that’s...”

“I mean, that’s if you wanted them, too, but...”

Zinnia found one of her hands wrapped in one of Ralph’s. She realized just how big they were, with long, dangly fingers. Ralph had mentioned before his grandmother envied him for that, because they were perfect for playing piano. His grip was firm, but not tight. Probably due to the lack of use over the last the last couple of months.

“But this disease...it’s picking me apart, piece by piece. Every day, I feel like I’m losing something else...and now it’s taken this. My future is one great big question mark...how much I have left, _and_ the parts with you in it.”

“...the parts with _me_ in it?” Zinnia grinned, slowly sliding her way on top of Ralph. “Why, Mr. Wingates, are you suggesting you would like to marry me at some point?”

Ralph’s whole head turned fire truck red as he tried not to stare directly down Zinnia’s tank top. “Well...it depends on how broken my body is and how much you care about that...”

Zinnia just kissed him. “Ralph. I don’t care what this leukemia’s going to do to you. You’re my hero, and that is that. What comes after? We’ll deal with that when we get there. Now shut up and let me cuddle with you.”

Ralph finally smiled. “God, what would I do without you?”

* * *

Brienne had a tendency to be a nervous ball of energy sometimes, as those who knew her well would attest.

Ralph hadn’t contacted her at all since he’d started seeing his new specialist in Mossdeep City, and it was gnawing at her. Calem and Shauna had been saying it was probably because Ralph didn’t want to be bothered now that he was back out in the world and, naturally, everyone in Hoenn had their eyes on him like he was Alexander Hamilton. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what was going on: on the contrary, most of the press had been all over Ralph since he was first admitted the month before and vacated his position as Champion to focus on his health. The news that he’d been released that came a couple of weeks ago was, naturally, just as big, and speculation of another run pending a (relatively) clean bill of health within the next couple of years was already brewing.

Even here, the media machine never seemed to sleep. At least it wasn’t so full of hypocrisy like it was back home. Most of the time, anyway.

“ _Mom, please. You need to relax._ ”

That was the third time Kanaya had told her that today. That was the thing about Psychic Pokemon: they tended to draw in the same emotional energy from their trainers more so than other types. No doubt Kanaya, Dirk, and Marcone picking up some of her own unease just from being in the same room. “Sorry.”

“ _ **I’m sure Ralph is fine, Mom. He or Zinnia would have said as much if there was an issue.**_ ”

“I don’t know…I feel like I’m getting flashbacks to Shauna. I just…I don’t know if I can take any more heartbreak at this point.”

“ _Well yes, but Shauna’s managed to make it a lot longer than anyone would’ve guessed, and you still managed to make it through that relatively unscathed._ ”

“‘ _ **Relatively’ being the key word here, but she’s still right. Give the guy more credit, Mom. He already tanked a shot from a legendary Pokemon. Leukemia should be a walk in the park at this point.**_ ”

“ _That’s not quite accurate to what happened._ ”

“ _ **Come on. I’m trying to give a pep talk and you’re going on about technicalities?**_ ”

Brienne chuckled a little. “Guys, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, it’s just...I just don’t know what to do. I feel like I should try to help him, somehow, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“ _Perhaps Shauna would know? I know Ralph and Shauna’s experiences are largely different, but maybe she picked up on something that would help?_ ”

“Like what?”

“ _ **Something? Anything. You gotta lose that nervous energy somehow, though. I’m getting itchy just being around here.**_ ”

It was worth a try, at least, Brienne surmised. And Dirk at least would appreciate her bleeding off the energy.

“Okay then,” she pulled out a nearby laptop. “Where do we start?”

* * *

“ _Mr. Wingates. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?_ ”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, doc,” Ralph said. “You find anything in that last biopsy?”

“ _Well, according to the results, your recent drop in platelets is not a sign of relapse, which is good. But that is not actually the reason I’m calling._ ”

“Oh?” Ralph asked. “Something we should know?”

“ _I’ve just been informed of a new entry in the donor database. And she’s a full match with your bone marrow._ ”

Ralph’s eyes lit up instantly. Zinnia, May, Brendan, and Wally were all with him in the Base, a deck of cards between them all, and upon hearing those words, the cards were immediately forgotten and they all crowded around him. “You’re serious?”

“ _Absolutely. We’re already making arrangements to call her and bring her in to make the arrangements. What I find interesting is the name, and I figured you might recognize it,_ _given your previous achievements_ _. Do you know a Brienne Lalonde?_ ”

Ralph blinked. “...how could I not? She’s the Champion of Kalos, she and I have been friends for a while now. And she’s a full match?”

“ _Absolutely. There’s also a couple of other things that strike me as interesting in comparing the two of you, but that’s not_ _important. What is important is if she’s willing to sign on for this-”_

“Doc, trust me. If it’s Brienne, she’ll do it.”

“ _Very well. In that case, it seems like we can skip your consolidation treatment and move straight into the transplant phase. We’ll meet again at your next appointment and we’ll go over the particulars of the treatment at that time. Sounds good?_ ”

“Sounds great.”

“ _Alright then. Take care._ ” The doctor’s face vanished. Ralph flopped back into the Wailmer plushie behind him, flush with new hope.

“You’re not going to call her?” asked May.

“Of course I am,” Ralph said. “I’m just...savoring the moment.” After a few button presses, he plugged in the PokeNav Plus and Brienne’s face appeared.

“Ralph? What’s up?”

“I need your help with something down here, Brienne. Something’s happened and I needed to pick your brain.”

Brienne blinked. “Okay...um, are Groudon and Kyogre awake again? I mean, if they went Primal again on your watch after what happened-”

Ralph laughed. “God, I wish. No, what I need help with is a bit more...personal.”

“Define personal.”

“I was hoping maybe you could lend a hand with something. Well, not so much a hand as much as...well, bone marrow.”

Brienne paused, her brain slowly putting the words together and their resultant meaning. “You don’t mean...”

“Yeah. Brienne, the doctors just called. Your bone marrow is a full match with mine. Would you...be the one to donate and help me beat this leukemia, once and for all?”

Brienne actively fell backward onto her couch, her mind going a million miles a minute. And then she was right back up, beaming like the sun currently outside. “Ralph, I’d be honored.”

Zinnia, Brendan, May, and Wally all cheered.

“That’s great. You should be getting a call from the doctors shortly. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“Come on, Ralph. People like us, we gotta stick together, right?” she said.

“I guess that’s one way of putting it. So...see you when I see you?”

“See you when I see you.”

Ralph’s face faded out from the screen, and Brienne flopped back onto the couch. There would be a lot of planning to do for this kind of thing. A trip to Hoenn would definitely be a big deal, regardless of the circumstance. After pondering for a minute, she called up Shauna.

“Hey, Shauna. How do you feel about a trip to Hoenn?”

Brienne, Calem, and Shauna had arrived on the first boat to Hoenn from Kalos at Lilycove Harbor three days later.

“There she is. Yo! Brienne!”

Brienne stepped off the ramp, finding Ralph waiting for her with Zinnia and the others, Ralph wearing a mask and flanked by Simurgh, as usual. His lack of hair was currently hiding under a baseball cap. Brienne sized him up. “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

“New diet. Wouldn’t recommend it, though,” Ralph snarked.

After a moment, the two laughed and embraced each other.

* * *

On their next trip to Mossdeep City, with the Kalosians (and Virginian) in tow, their itinerary was much different compared to the usual routine for Ralph, as they had to go through additional tests for Brienne as well as Ralph in preparation for transplant day. And already the first day was shaping up to be a wild one, as Calem came out of one of the rooms with Shauna.

“You’re back early. What happened?” May asked.

“Brienne fainted. They threw us out of the room so they could wake her up,” Calem explained.

“Well then! Time check!” said Brendan.

Ralph checked his watch, then sighed. “Five minutes, thirty-seven seconds.”

“Oh hey. I win. Pay up.” Calem grinned.

There was a collective groan as Ralph, Brendan, and Wally promptly dug out their wallets and handed Calem a handful of Pokedollars each.

“I hope you choke on it, you jerk!” Shauna smacked Calem’s arm. “Taking bets on Brienne and her fear of needles, how could you?”

“Don’t look at me, they talked me into it,” said Wally.

“This was all Ralph’s idea anyway,” Brendan shrugged.

“I’m the guy with leukemia. I should be allowed to have a morbid sense of humor,” Ralph said, smiling behind his mask. “Of course, given the fact the three of you still bought in anyway...”

“And pass up an opportunity to beat you at something since you can’t battle at the moment?” Calem asked.

“Glad to be of service in facilitating your pride, Mr. Calem,” Ralph grunted, before a nurse came in from the other side of the lobby and handed a couple sheets of paper to him. “Oh look, they finally got the final copy of the transplant schedule, and-” Ralph readjusted his glasses and pointed at something. “Wait. What is this?”

“It’s a booster injection. It’s meant to increase her production of T-cells so that more can be harvested during the final process,” the nurse explained.

“Injection? Like with needles?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

Ralph rolled his eyes, handing Brienne’s schedule to Shauna. “Son of a bitch.”

“What?” Shauna asked.

“It looks like Brienne’s gonna have to keep getting poked. Every day for a week leading up to transplant day.”

“Yay. More money for me,” Calem deadpanned. Shauna smacked his arm again, a little harder this time. “Hey! I was being sarcastic that time!”

* * *

“Here it is. Room 663.”

Ralph, now fully shaven, entered the room, his bag of clothes in one hand and backpack of small objects from the Secret Base in the other. It was another spartan hospital room, just like his other one back in Lilycove City. Unlike his other room, though, this one had a nice view of the north side of the bay, and if he looked hard enough he could maybe see the launch pad of the Mossdeep Space Center in the distance. That was one of the cool things about living in a place like Hoenn: you didn’t have to go far for seaside views unless you lived in the area of Lavaridge Town or Fallarbor Town.

Maybe if he was lucky, he’d also get to see more launches from here. Ralph wondered how Professor Cozmo was doing. Had he continued his experiments with the dimensional wormholes from before? Last he heard, he was collaborating with all the other professors in figuring out more, especially since Zinnia mentioned the butterfly effect. He knew Professors Sycamore, Birch, Rowan, and Kukui were involved for sure, as well as two separate independent parties (both of them stationed in Alola) who were lending their own expertise.

Of course, un-luck had led him into this room, the room he’d likely be losing another month of what little life he possibly had left.

Zinnia put her arms around him. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“Ralph, we both know nothing is never _not_ on your mind.”

Ralph shrugged. “I guess...it’s just. Here we are, I guess. It all comes down to this.”

“So I guess it’s still bothering you? What the doctor said?”

Ralph slowly nodded as Zinnia let go, and he put his bags on the floor. “Fifty-fifty. Even with Brienne’s stem cells, it’s all down to the flip of a coin.”

“It’s only ten percent without it. I’d still take a coin flip over that any day. Besides, he said it wasn’t even like a real life-or-death scenario, per se.”

“Yeah, I know. Fifty percent is all best possible outcomes, fifty percent is everything else: rejection, debilitating injury, and-or death,” he said. “But it’s still something you don’t want to hear. It makes you wonder, you know. Like if I’ll ever see Simurgh and the others again...I mean, they’re not even going to let me bring Pasha in the room this time, and Pasha was one of the few things keeping me sane that first go round.”

“What, and I wasn’t?” Zinnia asked with a wry grin.

“I said _one_ of the things,” Ralph replied, sitting on the bed he’d be occupying. “It’s just...everyone feels so confident that this is gonna work out. Everyone except me. And that’s the probably the most important part. Wouldn’t you say?”

“That’s fair...but like, you were feeling the same way when you took on Steven for the Championship, right?”

“I wasn’t going to be executed if I lost, though.”

Zinnia sat down next to him and put her arms around his shoulders once again. “I know. But you’ve made it this far and took on everything leukemia’s thrown at you. You were dropped into a whole new world, and at the end of a year you became Hoenn’s youngest Champion in history and saved the world from annihilation. If _anyone_ has a chance to win against these odds, it’s you. No one’s asking you to believe blindly...just to try.”

Ralph leaned his head against Zinnia’s, rubbing her arm to find some of comfort in his trepidation.

“You think you’re ready now?”

“...as ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

The final days pre-transplant were almost a blur.

The first four days were radiation therapy. Three times a day, for about three minutes, Ralph was put in a harness and stood in front of a machine that blasted him head to toe, with only a leaden block in the shape of his lungs to protect him. He already could feel his energy dropping off with each round. By the end of the third day, he’d lost the ability to taste food. By day four, he barely wanted to eat at all, and when Zinnia finally convinced him to at least eat _something_ , that being a slice of toast with strawberry jelly, he’d thrown it back up after an hour.

Day five was another round of chemo. This one was only one dose, but it would be the most potent one he’d had yet, specifically designed to smack down his bone marrow. Day six, though, was a day off, though that didn’t really do much to improve things. Especially at 5 AM when Ralph needed to use the bathroom again.

“...I’m seeing stars.”

Zinnia had only been half-awake at the moment, but already she was having flashbacks to the last time he’d uttered those words, and panic set in all over again. Thankfully, this time they had nurses on standby. Ralph slumped backwards on the toilet, but he was quickly scooped to his feet by three nurses (due to his sheer size) and half-led half-dragged back to bed. He’d broken into a sweat, but he wasn’t shaking yet.

“Ralph, don’t fall asleep. Stay awake,” a nurse warned.

“I’m still here,” he groaned, one eye opening.

“You’re gonna be okay, Ralph,” Zinnia said. “I’m here.”

Ralph mumbled something of assent. Then, whether because he was not fully conscious or just to psyche himself out of falling asleep, he took Zinnia’s hand, mumbling words of a song that he’d been repeating to himself in this situation.

“ _On and on, like we're living on a broken recor_ _d_ _,_  
_Hope is strong, but misery's a little quicker,_  
 _Sit, and we wait, and we drown there,_  
 _Thinking, "Why bother playing when it's unfair?"_

_They say life's a waste, I say they lack belief._  
_They tell me luck will travel, I tell 'em that's why I've got feet._  
 _Left, right, left, right._  
_M_ _oving along to the pulse of a heartbeat._

_This could be the last chance you have to fly._  
_Do you like the ground? Want it to pass you by?_  
 _Man, you had it all when you were just a kid._  
 _Do you even remember who you were back then?_

_What do you want in life?_  
_Will you be twice as strong?_  
 _What would you sacrifice?_  
 _What are you waiting on?”_

And Zinnia echoed the last four words with him, resting her head on his chest.

“ _Don’t. Stop. March. On._ ”

She looked up towards the door as one of the nurses returned to the room. “...well?”

“He’s going to be okay. His blood tests are clean and his blood counts are normal for this stage. It’s likely this was a vasovagal reaction; basically, he strained himself too hard and constricted his blood vessels. It’s a typical side effect of all the damage he’s suffered to his body due to the radiation and the chemotherapy,” the nurse nodded. “Still, you may want to keep an eye on him, just in case it comes up again.”

Zinnia nodded as she left. Ralph sighed, his hand snaking on top of hers. He had one eye open, probably to feel like he was resting while still staying awake to avoid the ire of the nurses following this new ordeal. He didn’t appear scared. More like exasperated. She ran a hand over his bald head.

“You’re almost there, Ralph. You can do this. Don’t give up.”

* * *

Ralph twitched a little. His eyes opened to about halfway, and he looked around with them. It was around noon, the sunlight reflecting off the waves outside his window. He saw the small bag of blood and stem cells flowing into his body. Brienne’s blood and stem cells. When no one else could, she stepped up and gave him a second chance at life. Maybe now, Ralph thought in his half-asleep haze, the fight would turn. Now, he could heal.

Leukemia had taken many things from Ralph. It took his health, his title, kept him separated from the things he loved. But what he told Brienne that day was seeming more and more possible now: he’d fight the last great scourge in Sickness’s arsenal. And he would win. And now, he’d made it to the first day of new life. Now, it was two weeks post-transplant. That was his next goal. After that, was a hundred days.

Ralph chuckled silently. It was like taking on the Gyms again. First Rustboro. Then Dewford. Then Mauville. On and on until the ultimate prize in Ever Grande City.

He felt a gloved hand touch his shoulder. As Ralph looked over, Zinnia kissed his forehead through her mask.

“Happy birthday, Mr. Hero.”

**Author's Note:**

> And so, as I post this, the sun has already set on day number 365 of continuous remission. I just got back from a day of visiting the local zoo, lunch at Red Robin, finishing this story that I had started writing last July and told all of one person (she knows who she is) that I was even doing it at all, and demolishing an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's. A year ago today, I was in a hospital bed in Duarte, receiving stem cells from my little brother, thoroughly baked from radiation therapy, unable to taste worth a damn, and gone through the most harrowing of experiences. 
> 
> Most of those experiences I went through found their way into this story, one way or another. There are a couple I left off, including one at the very beginning of this journey that I haven't told anyone. Not even my mother, who was in the hospital room with me when it happened. I might tell her one day, when it's all said and done. But that's not important. What is important, is that after one year of spending my life living just day by day, I can finally say I accomplished at least something of substance. Maybe in this next year I can make it two. 
> 
> And so, Rhia, I say thank you, for sticking by me. It's been a wild ride, but it seems like we'll have a lot more.
> 
> One year down. Four more to go. 
> 
> And in case you're wondering, the lyrics in this story come from "Battle Scars" by Paradise Fears, for you Undertale freaks.


End file.
